Archives for January 2010

Hindus have an interest in theology and often a passion for it. Few works of art or literature are purely secular: the intellectual and aesthetic efforts of India, long, continuous and distinguished as they are, are monotonous inasmuch as they are almost all the expression of some religious phase. But the religion itself is extraordinarily full and varied. The love of discussion and speculation creates considerable variety in practice and almost unlimited variety in creed and theory. There are few dogmas known to the theologies of the world which are not held by some of India's multitudinous sects, and it is perhaps impossible to make a single general statement about Hinduism, to which some sects would not prove an exception.

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So I was reading an article by Daniel Pipes. He said an interesting about the ideology of Islamism, he said, "In particular, they seek to build an Islamic state in Turkey, replace Israel with an Islamic state and the U.S. constitution with the Koran."

While I won't speak on the politics of the Arab Middle East, or Turkey, it's the last part of that sentence I find interesting. Pipes makes the inference that anyone who prefers "Islamic Laws" for the country in which they live (in his articles case, radical Islamists) are people who advocate replacing Democratically instituted Constitutional Laws with Quranic Laws.

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No sect of Hinduism personifies the powers of evil in one figure corresponding to Satan, or the Ahriman of Persia. In proportion as a nation thinks pantheistically it is disinclined to regard the world as being mainly a contest between good and evil. It is true there are innumerable demons and innumerable good spirits who withstand them. But just as there is no finality in the exploits of Râma and Krishna, so Râvana and other monsters do not attain to the dignity of the Devil. In a sense the destructive forces are evil, but when they destroy the world at the end of a Kalpa the result is not the triumph of evil. It is simply winter after autumn, leading to spring and another summer.

Buddhism having a stronger ethical bias than Hinduism was more conscious of the existence of a Tempter, or a power that makes men sin. This power is personified, but somewhat indistinctly, as Mâra, originally and etymologically a god of death. He is commonly called Mâra the Evil One, which corresponds to the Mrityuh pâpmâ of the Vedas, but as a personality he seems to have developed entirely within the Buddhist circle and to be unknown to general Indian mythology.

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The new Christianity will include unselfish prayer, followed by not worrying whether or not the prayers will be answered. And God will be described as providing our building blocks, but it is up to us after that. And Christians will begin facing and accepting their destiny, and then taking charge of their destiny to improve it. These and other new principles will gradually influence the present ones of selfish prayer, that God is our caretaker and we are helpless without Him, and that God has an unalterable plan for us that we cannot change. Christians are going to become very proactive, and the sheep of yesterday who followed blindly will turn into perceptive and intelligent lions.

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I know that by saying this many eyebrows will be raised: Islam is a modern religion with the aim of emancipation. Yes, I know, looking at the Burka of Afghan women, looking at the hijab of Iranian women, reading that FGC is mostly done in the Islamic countries of Africa, reading how poorly women in Islamic countries are treated does not really prove my point. But give me a chance to explain my point without stopping to read my paper, and I am sure that at the end of this you will understand my statement.

Since it would be too broad to consider all the Islamic countries, I will concentrate on Iran as a sample and compare it to some other Islamic countries when necessary. Before the islamization of Persia, Persians were mainly Zoroastrians. Women had numerous rights: right to divorce, right to own real property, right of leadership etc. I could go on and on. The other Middle Eastern countries did not have any of those rights. Women were seen as "birth-machines" for male production only. Now, do not ask me how they imagined future reproduction without girls.

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